I recently shared some initial impressions from my flight in Austrian Airlines’ Boeing 777 business class. I wanted to dedicate a post to actually assigning business class seats on Austrian’s 777s, as there’s a trick to snagging the best seats without paying extra.
Continue reading: How To Select Austrian Business Class “Throne” Seat For Free
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Flying B767 in business gives you the best of both world - by getting the true window seat you get both the wide space to the right of you AND get the biggest footwell for unrestricted foot movement so I prefer B767 over B777.
I recently flew in a Throne seat with Swiss Air and paid $219 from L.A. to Zurich. It's the most uncomfortable seat I've ever had in a business class. It's so narrow and basically I just sat in between the 2 seats in front of me. Access to my seat is also very narrow (and I'm an average 5' 5", 130 lbs) and none of the extra compartment is any good for storage. Never again. I'd rather sit in the middle row with a stranger and have a direct aisle access.
I find the throne seats attractive on day time flights (e.g. Europe to North America), because they are sort of “big desks”, where you can spread out your documents. For sleeping, I find them less useful, since the footwell is narrow.
Also, please bear in mind, that LH high status pax (HON/SEN) can select them for free.
How easy is it to look out the window from the throne seats? I have an upcoming flight on Edelweiss with the same config, and am able to select any seat for free, but have opted for the right side of the plane for a seat separated from the aisle and right next to the window.
It needs to be noted, that Lufthansa and Austrian open check-in only 23 hours before the flight. So all those who have booked at these companies can not check in earlier.
That isn't completely true. While 23h is the stated check-in time, you can do OLCI for most flights from 30h out. If you're after the throne seats I'd start trying at exactly 30h, if that doesn't work, try again at 29h and so on. If you're connecting the odds of getting one at check-in are reasonably high.
My wife and I flew Austrian Air recently on a return flight from Vienna to JFK. We had originally booked in economy, but while at the gate we noticed the flight was pretty empty, so I asked at the desk for upgrade options and we were moved to Business class for only about $700 extra. Wow! Incredible fully reclining seats, food, drinks, and great service. Our best flight ever, and we travel often!
It’s worth mentioning that footwell space is much wider in bulkhead throne seats. Those truly are the best seats in the house.
The front bulkhead row has bigger footwells - those throne seats are the best ones to choose on OS. I have flown VIE-IAD quite a few times.
since most people here book Austrian through United, Aeroplan or Avianca awards, how does the check-in seat work?
I agree. I just flew SWISS A330-300 yesterday (Jan 7, 2023). Initially got the right side window in business class (the "throne" seat is only available on the left side since the A330 is more narrow than the B777s) since the "throne" seat were blocked off and cost extra when I booked with SWISS. When I checked-in, I saw a "throne" seat available and got it (10A) with no extra cost. I'm 5'10", 170lbs, and when I laid down to sleep, the "bench" on both sides created a coffin-feel, and the seat is just slightly wider than my shoulder. It felt narrow. The leg room, in comparison, wasn't as big of a deal in my opinion. I think the "throne" seat is overrated. It may be great if it's a shorter flight ro day flight that you don't need the lay-flat mode.
You can select seat by logging into the operating airline to select seat. For example, I booked Houston to Hurghada, Egypt r/t for Christmas and New Year in business class for about $2100 through SWISS. It was IAH-IAD-ZRH-HRG (United Polaris in the first two segments and Edelweiss on the last leg. I can select seats with SWISS on Edelweiss flight, but I have to go to United website to select seats that were operated by UA (note that I'm talking about shortly after booking with SWISS).